PA Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival is launching “The Muse of Fire Project,” an educational initiative for high school students from the Lehigh Valley region to participate in a fully-produced Shakespeare play.

The project’s inaugural production, “Much Ado About Nothing,” is Dec. 20 and Dec. 21, Main Stage, Labuda Center for the Performing Arts, DeSales University, in Center Valley.

The project is an expansion of PSF’s educational outreach, giving area high school students the opportunity to perform on a professional stage and work with professional directors and artists.

Following weeks of rehearsals at Allentown Public Library, the young artists will present a modern take on Shakespeare’s witty romantic comedy.

“When you bring together talented high school students from across multiple districts and give them the tools to not just perform ‘Much Ado About Nothing,’ but to truly inhabit it, something magical happens,” says the production’s director Kim Carson, PSF Director of Education and Community Engagement.

“Students who may have seen Shakespeare as a barrier are now breaking through it with courage, creativity and passion,” Carson says.

“These young artists are proving that classical theater isn’t locked in the past. It’s alive, vital and waiting for the next generation to carry it forward,” says Carson.

The project gives students hands-on experience in all aspects of theatrical production, whether they act, build, design or run crew.

Shakespeare’s spirited comedy offers a tale of two courtships.

Beatrice (Jocelyn Kluesner, Central Bucks High School South) and Benedick (Jackson Mascio, Saucon Valley High School) elevate the art of the quarrel in their duel of glittering wordplay.

Claudio (Hakeem Qayyum, Parkland High School) and Hero (Adryan Sein Diaz, Dieruff High School) have their true love put to the test by the villain Don John (Sam Skinner, Moravian Academy Upper School).

Plots are challenged by comical officers as honor and desire collide to create much ado about laughter and love.

The cast includes  Elijah Christie, home-schooled; Jade Lopez, Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts; Jenna Le-Verges, Dieruff High School; Matthew Monroe, Parkland High School; Gage Reichard, Dieruff High School; Cailey Sylvester, Freedom High School, and Marilou Vasquez, Dieruff High School.

The crew includes Gwen Jones, Southern Lehigh High School, as stage manager; Meredith Christie, home-schooled, as assistant stage manager; Lennie Vargas, Parkland High School, as costume coordinator, and Christine Dauster, Parkland High School; Haley Jacob, Notre Dame High School, and Parker Rosado, Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts.

Assisting the students are assistant director Rachael Szabo and lighting designer Henry Ingles, each of DeSales University.

Audiences may share light refreshments with the cast and crew following the Dec. 20 performance.

The performance is 90 minutes with no intermission.

“Much Ado About Nothing,” 7 p.m. Dec. 20; 2 p.m. Dec. 21, “The Muse of Fire Project,” PA Shakespeare Festival, Main Stage Theatre, Labuda Center for the Performing Arts, DeSales University, 2755 Station Avenue, Center Valley. https://www.pashakespeare,org/

“Curtain Rises” is a column about the theater, stage shows, the actors in them and the directors and artists who make them happen. To request coverage, email: Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnonline.com